KGU’s products give benefits directly to the community. While our agricultural products are sourced directly from farmers, our artisans are paid on piece rates that are calculated to ensure them a fair wage. We attempt to maximize the returns to rural producers – buying hand-spun yarn from high altitude sheep-rearers, finishing the textiles locally, and using local expertise in the value-addition processes of apricot kernel.

In a region largely dependent on subsistence agriculture and an unreliable fruit crop, KGU’s outreach gives a meaningful income to the families it is involved with. While we are a small scale operation, our producer numbers have been growing every year.

For our weavers, the substantial round-the-year income enables them to think of better futures for their children than they imagined for themselves. For many of the producers taking home supplementary earnings – the knitters or women farmers who have no other means of earning on their own – the cash they receive in their own hands gives them greater control over their lives.